CORAL GABLES — Keeping the offensive line theme, UM coach Al Golden dropped somewhat of a surprise when he it comes to the status of injured tackle Seantrel Henderson.

Henderson, who had preseason back surgery, has yet to be cleared to practice. When he does return, he could find himself playing guard, not tackle.

Before you sound the alarm, here’s the reason. Golden said Henderson needs to slowly work his way back. The responsibility of playing left tackle is a little bit higher profile than the other positions on the line. This is not to take away from the centers and guards, but it’s true. Just look at the payroll of any NFL roster and compare the salaries of the left tackle and right guard.

“For me it’s about getting the best five out there,” Golden said. “Again, we’re talking about a guy (Henderson) who hasn’t done much in a long time. We’ve just got to make sure we’re careful with him and transition him back.”

“There’s still going to be some tinkering,” Golden said. “… When Seantrel comes back, there’s going to be even more competition. We’re looking at Fig and Bunche. Fig and Bunche are right there at six and seven. I always rank the offensive linemen. They’ve got to play their way into the five. Seantrel is going to have something to say about it, too. Where he plays, tackle or guard when he comes back … where he competes at is going to have a lot to do with the development of those other guys.”

Comments (3 Comments)

im still waiting to see how the canes perform against vatech …IF they beat the jokies that will show me somthing then win out till the fsu game(very possible after vatech game _dont care about the gatech run game _please )…at that point we could be watching
acc championship game part 1

News on Shantrel is great! We can really use the healthy bodies of Curtis Porter and Luther robinson, but I’m afraid they and Shayon Green are the unfortunate injury prone types. Those two big bodies at DT would really give the D-Line a stiffer presence. Add Ray Ray and Olivier Vernon and we’ve really got one of the best defenses. Something to think about Canes Fans!